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Tuesday, December 1, 2009

We are so blessed! We got to spend time with the babies Thanksgiving morning and lots of family this weekend. This week our babies hit 32 weeks! This was a huge milestone as the humidity in their isolettes was turned off which means they get to wear clothes!!! My, do we have cute babies! We've been able to hold someone just about every time we visit so we've spent every spare minute up there visiting! We're able to help with the every 3 hour assessments and can change diapers, check temps, bathe and hold! That's why this update is to late! I've been working on it for a couple days now! :) Check out these cute matching outfits, courtesy of Nana!

Brennan Nicholas 2lbs 10oz (birth weight 1lb 4oz)

Brennan's job is to feed and grow (and breathe!). He graduated to big boy diapers (size preemie!) to match his brother. From these pic's you can see he's still a little behind! He is still doing nasal cannula trials, exercising his lungs and getting him ready to lose the CPAP! He was going longer and longer each day until Wednesday when he just got too tired. He was on nasal cannula for 36 hours! He did such a great job, but just got tired. We've made a couple steps backward, now he's on cannula for 7 hours, but we're working back up. He's only minimal oxygen (21-25%, 21% is equivalent to room air) but still needs the pressure of the air into his lungs. We're still so proud! Also, our biotindase test results came back - Nich & I's levels looked good, but Brennan's was still low. They began giving him biotin to replace what he's using. It's 3 times a day and goes right in his feeding tube. He'll be tested again at 48 weeks gestation (hopefully at our dr office and not in the NICU!). All in all, Brennan has had a great week!

Landon James 3lbs 6oz (birth weight 1lb 7oz)

Landon is doing great! He's definitley got the growing and feeding job down! He's gaining about 1oz each day! He is making some progress on his CPAP and on Thanksgiving day was able to do "social cannula" while we held him. He was on about 60% oxygen but was remembering to breathe! You can see in this picture he is filling out preemie clothes quite well! Landon is also tolerating the daily resevior taps well and it seems to be helping! His ventricles are about 1cm smaller since they've started the taps. Also in both boys their brain bleeds are maturing (blood is being absorbed by the body and no new bleeding). He still is as wild as ever and we love that!

Brooklyn Danielle 2lbs 9oz (birth weight 1lb 3.5oz)

Brooklyn is now our little one again! She isn't gaining weight as well as the boys so they're keeping a closer eye on her. Making sure she's not burning too many calories! She's on CPAP and nasal cannula trials and doing great - she definintely is still very sensitive and can tell when the nurses turn her oxygen down 1%! They try to sneak up on her and turn her down so she doesn't notice! :) She started PT this week too and got a great report! She has "great head control and muscle tone." How can a 2lb baby have good head control?! They're miracles! She gets to sit up in a make shift bobby to improve her head control and is absolutely adorable! I haven't been able to get a picture (I need to leave a camera at the hospital!) but will post it right away! She is our little peanut, so precious!

Nich & I holding all three for the first time on Thanksgiving Day! (L-R) Brennan, Brooklyn and Landon - he got his own arm because he just about weights the same as the other two combined!

I had just gone downstairs to play with Hailey (it was my shift) and about 20min later one of the Respiratory Therapists came down and was going to watch her for a couple minutes, Nich was holding three babies!!! I pretty much ran up to their room and was so thrilled! He was beaming, a little nervous with three bobble heads, but you couldn't wipe the smile off his face! We got quite a few pictures of the kids and one shot with all of us. We have been waiting for this day!!! Every big milestone is bittersweet. Our family picture is not complete. We are so thankful everyday for the strength of these little ones, but also miss Katelyn so much! Seeing Brennan and Landon together and imagining the fun they will have as they grow and sad for Brooklyn that she won't experience that same bond with her twin sister. Hailey is so thrilled to have a sister and I'm sure will be so good to Brooklyn, but it's not the same. We did make a Build a Bear this week to remember Katelyn. Meme is going to knit a sweater with a "K" on it for the bear and we can take family pictures with all of us and that bear. It's a subtle reminder of our angel.

Bro's hanging out for the first time! A couple times Landon would look over at Brennan like, "Hey! What are you doing here?" We LOVED watching them interact!

We have so much to be thankful for this year. God has been so real to us, giving us the strength and peace to endure. We are so thankful for our little miracles and their amazing big sister. Our household will be blessed for years to come! We're thankful for the opportunity to meet, love and care for Katelyn. We're thankful for family, friends, churches and those we've never met for all your prayers and support! We have been overwhelmed by all your love! We're thankful for the NICU staff and their God given talents to help our babies grow and survive - it's amazing what they can do! I can't even express how gratitude, there's no words big enough! THANK YOU!

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About Me

I have been married to the most amazing husband for 10 years and now absolutely enjoy being a mom. We're the proud parents of Hailey (10) and quadruplets too! Brennan, Landon, Katelyn and Brooklyn (7) born 23 weeks 1 day, and Owen (3 in December). I work for Central Michigan 2-1-1 a really cool program to help connect the community, helping people find nonprofit resources they need. We're so blessed!